I
sat there riveted as the fish slowly
circled, then struck with lightning
speed and a ferocity that took your
breath away. What was even more
astonishing was its size – a genuine 20
pound plus fish that ran hard, jumped
high and just wouldn’t give up. To top it
off, this beast was taken in winds of 40
knots plus!
The location was Lago Strobel in
Patagonia, South America, or, as it’s been
nicknamed, Jurassic Lake, the best place
on the planet to take the world’s biggest
wild rainbow trout. Brilliant video of
the fish in action was being screened in
Adelaide late last year as part of the Rise
Film Festival. As I watched, wide-eyed
with mouth agape, I made the decision
there and then to experience it, with
absolutely no turning back. As soon as
the theatre session ended, I was straight
out to the lobby to find film-maker and
tour operator, Nick Reygaert, to get the
bookings underway. Nick is one of the
world’s leading fishing video makers,
prime time TV fishing show cameraman,
and a tour guide in New Zealand’s South
Island. He has fished most of the key
angling hot spots on the globe and has a
vast knowledge of fly fishing.
The next day I contacted long-time
fishing buddy, Dave Bennett, and it didn’t
take more than 30 seconds to convince
him to come along. However, he had
one proviso – he had long dreamed of
fishing the legendary Rio Grande River in
Patagonia for the world’s biggest browntrout. Why not do both? Deal done.
In the coming weeks we also learned
of freshwater dorado right on Buenos
Aires’ back doorstep, so we booked
three days there as a ‘warm-up’ for the
big guns. Nick organised the best times
for peak fishing at the three angling
lodges, going on to say we had arranged
the fishing trip of a lifetime.
We jetted into the Argentinian
capital in much the same conditions we
left Adelaide; hot and windy. It wasn’t
long before we were picked up and
whisked away to a wharf on Buenos
Aires’ outskirts to begin the hour-long
boat ride to the golden dorado hot spot.
B.A. boasts the widest river mouth in
the world, more than 100 kilometres,
and our guide took us across vast
stretches of water before entering
narrower and narrower offshoots. In
the end we were ducking branches as
we neared his small Rio Delta Lodge,
deep in the overgrown backwaters.
It was just Dave and I staying there,
and we were treated to fine food and
wines as we listened to tales of hard
fighting dorado. The next day dawned
to increasing heat and building northerly
winds. Buenos Aires is on much the
same latitude as Adelaide, and the
day was a carbon copy of one of our
best summer stinkers. Our guide was
devastated and, despite working his
guts out for us, we could only manage
two small dorado. There was also a fish
I dropped when Dave’s fly slapped mein the face during the fierce windstorm.
The next day was the total reverse, with
south-west winds, rain, then thunder
and lightning. We were back at the lodge
by lunch, soaked and jet-lagged. Bring
on Jurassic Lake!
As the plane jetted across the
Patagonian wilds, I couldn’t help noticing
the lack of trees – a sure sign of strong
wind and bitter cold. El Calafate airport
reminded me of the bare hills as you
drive past the army barracks on the way
to Whyalla. We were warned about the
rough two-hour ride to the Estancia
Laguna Verde Lodge atop the cliffs of
Lake Strobel. But what they didn’t tell
us was that in the next seven days we
would never get the 4WD’s out of second
gear, as the vehicles constantly bouncedThe golden dorado is a truly handsome fishJurassic Lake in 30 knot windsuoS
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(^54) rleg http://www.saangler.com.au